The Presentation of the Lord - 2nd February | Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary School

This weekend we will celebrate the holy day of Candlemas, or The Presentation of the Lord, on 2nd February. As a class we have discussed this information event in the Church’s calendar as the day when Simeon and Anna ‘saw the salvation’ and the words of the prophets came true. This is a day when candles are blessed in Church and taken home and lit to share the Light of the World within our homes. We have discussed how we can Shine our Light for Jesus and the children have all made a little candle to mark this special day.

English - we have continued on with our RWI lessons. During these sessions we all focus on phonics, reading, spelling and sentence development. We have also been working on our pre-cursive handwriting in which we focus on how to write our letters, starting on the line. We are continuing to work hard on our common exception words, reading them in class every day!

Maths - this week we have been learning to use our number tracks/lines to subtrac by counting back, still talking about parts and whole. We have used this information to find missing parts, no matter where they are in the calculation.

RE - this week has been all about the story of Jesus getting’lost’ in the temple. We have discussed what it feels like to the lost and compared our experiences with that of Jesus. Lots of interesting stories about getting lost in the supermarket!!

PLEASE SEND IN A PICTURE OF YOUR CHILD’S BAPTISM, IF THEY HAVE BEEN BAPTISED, FOR OUR NEW TOPIC BOARD. MANY THANKS. You can use the Year 1 email yr1@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk

Science - this week we have continued with our topic all about Materials. This week we have focused on the properties of materials materials and the children have started an investigation, in small groups, into materials which float or sink. Much fun had by all!

Art - this week the children have continued to focus on different marking marking techniques in their unit on drawing.

Geography - this week in our map making unit we went on a walk around our school grounds to collect information to us make our own maps of school. We have also studies maps of the local area and looked at many different aerial views of school - the particularly enjoyed looking for school on Google Earth!

POTATOES - also our seed potatoes arrived this week and are currently ‘chitting’ on the window sill waiting for spring when we will plant them. Fingers crossed for a good crop.

Many congratulations to this week’s winners….

Golden Award - Sophia for showing the upmost respect to herself, her class mates and the adults around her all at all times. Sophia always conducts herself with grace and respect.

Writing Award - Mia for super work in RWI showing that she can hold a sentence in her head and record it accurately. I am also impressed to see the development in her pre-cursive handwriting.

Maths Award - Alistair for showing a determination to succeed in subtraction work this week, despite not finding it easy. Excellent effort Alistair.

General pieces of information

PE will be on Monday and Friday so please send the children into class in the PE kits on those days. No earrings can be worn for PE so please ensure that they are taken out at home.
Trainers - if your children is wearing trainers with laces for PE they must be able to tie them by themselves. This is a health and safety issue - please ensure your child can tie their laces before sending them in lace-up trainers.
Water bottles - all the children were given a new school bottle this week. This will come home each night to be cleaned and re-filled. Please only use the school bottles and ensure your child brings theirs each day. Lost water bottles can be replaced at the school office, but I am afraid you will have to pay for those. Year 1 have orange tops.
I will not be in class on a Thursday afternoon, as it is my release time. This will be covered by Mrs Debowska and Mrs McCooey and is also when the children will have Music with Mrs Watson.
Party Invitations - I am afraid that Mrs Debowska and I will not be able to give out party invitations in class. Please do not send your child into class with them for them to give out - it creates upset and fuss about something that takes place outside of school.Thank-you for your understanding with this matter.
Key Rings - please do not put key rings onto your child’s school bag, it create fuss in class and then upset if they are lost.
School bag - please continue to use the red book bag that your child was given in Reception, we don not have the room to store large bags. Many thanks for your help with this matter.
Homework Expectations - please see the Homework page for what I expect the children to do at home…..don’t worry, it’s mainly just reading!! HOMEWORK EXPECTATIONS - YEAR 1 — Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary

DON’T FORGET TO COME DRESSED AS A PIRATE ON WEDNESDAY 5TH FEBRUARY!!!

5.2.25 - Year 1 Pirate Day! As part of our Geography unit on mapping, we will spend the day focusing on all things maps…whilst dressed as pirates! Stripy tops, hats, eye patches at the ready!!

13.2.25 - The school council has decided to run 'What I would like to be when I leave school' day in order to raise funds for CAFOD. They are asking children to dress up as someone they would like to be when they grow up on Thursday 13th February 2025. This can be anything so please do not feel like you have to buy a costume for this occasion, props from home or a simple paintbrush in hand (if they wish to be a painter) will do perfectly. A contribution of £1 is now live to pay on ParentPay and will go towards raising money for CAFOD.

ADVANCED NOTICE….

17.3.25 - Parent/Teacher Meetings - please keep an eye out for the email giving you information on booking a slot. These meetings will run from 1-5pm and will be an opportunity for us to catch up on your child’s learning and how you can support them at home.

PLEASE SEE MRS MANNIX’S LATEST NEWSLETTER - THERE ARE LOADS OF DATES ON THE BOTTOM OF THAT LETTER FOR THIS TERM!

In Key Stage 1, children have common exception words to learn alongside their letters and sounds spellings. Common exception words are words in which the English spelling code works in an unusual or uncommon way. They are not words for which phonics 'doesn't work', but they may be exceptions to spelling rules, or words which use a particular combination of letters to represent sound patterns in a rare or unique way.

In Year 1 we are having a real PUSH on these words this term - to ensure that ALL children can read, write and spell correctly ALL of these words. They really do help support the flow of reading. You can really support your child at home by practicing these words. First of all, can they read them instantly? Not sounding them out, but just read them because they know them. Secondly, can they spell them? Thirdly, can they spell them correctly if they ar writing their own sentence and are not told how to spell the word? These are all things you can help with at home - just 5/10 minutes each day will really help.

I have included a link to the Top Marks web page with a few interactive games which might hep!

Many thanks for your help.

Words and Spelling, English Games for 5-7 Years - Topmarks

Spelling games: Common exception words (spellzone.com)

Little Bird Spelling || Practise spelling Common Exception Words (ictgames.com)

Common Exception Word List - Year 1

This half term we will be learning all about Baptism. If your child has been Baptised, please could you send in a picture of their Baptism for our display board. You can either send in a copy or email me one to year1@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk. Many thanks.

Catholic Life of our school..

The following resources are a great way of keeping you all informed of our current liturgy themes and of the weekly Gospel scripture, with some activities that the children can complete at home. We hope you find these resources useful and that they help you to support prayer and worship in your own homes.

https://www.paperturn-view.com/wednesday-word/good-news?pid=MTA101634&v=163.4